we never read a "young van Rijn" story;
we read the Time Patrol series in the same order that Manse Everard experiences events, from his recruitment to the Patrol the beginning of his relationship with Wanda Tamberly;
each annual James Bond novel was set when it was written even though this necessitated some later revision of earlier biographical details.
You can probably think of other examples.
A "young Everard" story about the central character's Midwest upbringing or his World War II experiences would be pre-Time Patrol and therefore would not be sf which would have made it interesting to read. However, Poul Anderson never had any reason to contemplate writing such a story.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And I wish now I had thought of asking Poul Anderson, in one of my snail mail letters to him, why he had never written a Young Nick story. I would have loved seeing a youthful Nicholas van Rijn as he was beginning his rise to fame and vast wealth! Say around age 19, as we see with Dominic Flandry in ENSIGN FLANDRY.
Ad astra! Sean
Everard could have been required to protect his early self from time criminals who’d realized what a crucial figure he was. I considered that for the tribute anthology but decided it would take a whole novel.
If young Everard were, e.g., killed during WWII, then this would not prevent his exploits earlier in history but it would complicate matters.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling and Paul!
Mr. Stirling: I hope your broken leg is healing well! And, yes, you would need a whole novel to adequately work out the implications and complications of the thought you had. Too long to be included in MULTIVERSE.
Paul: I'm trying to wrap my head around the idea of a Manse Everard killing during WW II still somehow being part of the Time Patrol, despite him never going to answer that employment advertisement we see in "Time Patrol." Yes, I can see how his exploits occurring in earlier eras could still "happen," but HOW, if he had never met "Mr. Gordon"?
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Because, in the Time Patrol scenario, a time traveler's arrival at an earlier time is unaffected by the prevention of his departure from a later time.
Paul.
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